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April 15, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n As tech giants and local data centres operators race to transform Australia into an Asia-Pacific hub for artificial intelligence, they are demanding access to the nation\u2019s energy grid, water supply and prime land, backed in part by a big number: 935,000.<\/p>\n That\u2019s how many jobs some in the industry say they are indirectly supporting. One operator said data centres \u201cunderpin\u201d 935,000 jobs; its chief lobbyist said that many roles were \u201cenabled\u201d by the sector. But there\u2019s good reason to be sceptical.<\/p>\n The statistic on data centre employment appears to come from consulting firm Mandala Partners\u2019 October 2024 report Empowering Australia\u2019s Digital Future<\/a>, commissioned jointly by five of Australia\u2019s largest data centre operators: AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services, CDC, Microsoft and NextDC.<\/p>\n One of the report\u2019s infographics places 9600 data centre operational jobs alongside a figure of 935,000 broader tech sector jobs under a title reading: \u201cGrowing Australia\u2019s data centre workforce will meet future demand and support jobs in the broader tech sector\u201d.<\/p>\n The presentation implies the wider tech workforce depends on data centre expansion here.<\/p>\n Related Article It does not. The 935,000 figure is simply the Tech Council of Australia\u2019s estimate of total technology sector employment<\/a>, a count that includes everyone from software developers to graphic designers to HR managers and PR staff at internet publishing companies.<\/p>\n The report does not demonstrate that these roles depend on data centres being physically built in Australia.<\/p>\n Stela Solar, chief executive of Stone & Chalk, Australia\u2019s largest innovation hub, says the nature of those jobs was being misrepresented.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data centre jobs described in the report don\u2019t map onto the widely accepted definition of \u2018tech jobs\u2019,\u201d Solar says. \u201cThe majority of roles created by data centres are in facilities management: electricians, HVAC technicians, clerical staff, admin workers, and executives overseeing building operations.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mandala report\u2019s figures on that kind of job creation are more modest.<\/p>\n It projects 17,900 operational data centre jobs by 2030, requiring 8300 new workers on top of the current 9600 data centre jobs. The report forecasts $26 billion in baseline investment in Australian data centres over that period, equating to roughly $3.1 million in capital for every permanent operational job.<\/p>\n Of course, much of that capital might be foreign investment in Australia<\/a>, or come from a super fund earning a strong return for Australians\u2019 retirement, so it is being put to a clear use.<\/p>\n Solar argues too that the real economic value for Australia lies not in the data centres themselves but in building a domestic software and AI industry on top of them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the commercial value generated on top of Australian infrastructure flows mostly to foreign owners, Australia will fail to capture the lion\u2019s share of the benefit of having data centres onshore,\u201d she said. \u201cThe wealth will only be realised locally if we grow our domestic tech sector and support the next generation of Australian tech companies.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said the industry\u2019s claims warranted scepticism.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tech industry in Australia is laying off workers at a rate of knots: Atlassian, WiseTech, Telstra. Largely, employers claim that this is due to AI efficiencies making those jobs redundant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Belinda Dennett, chief executive of Data Centres Australia, the industry\u2019s peak body, defended the sector\u2019s broader value in an interview.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know that we\u2019ve made the connection that 935,000 jobs are dependent on data centres being built here,\u201d she told this masthead. \u201cBut we would say that data centres enable us to have a digital economy in Australia. And if we didn\u2019t have a digital economy, we wouldn\u2019t have those tech jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t have that infrastructure here in Australia, then all we are going to do is be importing the tools. And we\u2019ve seen that where we just import tools we don\u2019t capture Australian culture, Australian language, and Australian values.\u201d<\/p>\n Dennett also rejected the premise that opposing data centre construction would protect Australian jobs from AI displacement.<\/p>\n \u201cI get that people are fearful of it and have concerns about [AI], but we\u2019re not going to stop it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to stop it by not building the infrastructure here. I think if we build the infrastructure here, we are capturing more of that value chain, creating more of the jobs here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tech Council of Australia, which is responsible for the 935,000 figure, said the statistic did not represent the jobs that are directly dependent on data centres being physically located in Australia, and that many of those jobs would exist regardless of where data centres are located.<\/p>\n Related Article Mandala\u2019s managing partner Amit Singh said the firm \u201cfirmly stands behind the report and its findings\u201d and that the 935,000 figure was used as \u201ccontextual reference only\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work utilised conservative estimates of data centre construction and operations jobs,\u201d Singh said in a statement. \u201cWhile there can be legitimate concerns about aspects of data centre development, the evidence is clear that data centres represent a significant economic and technological opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The e61 Institute, a non-partisan economic research body, has separately described data centre operators as \u201ccapital-intensive and relatively small employers\u201d, citing data showing only around 11,500 data centres workers in Australia nationally.<\/p>\n International research from the US advocacy group Food & Water Watch found that the investment required to create a single permanent data centre job in Virginia \u2013 America\u2019s largest data centre market \u2013 was nearly 100 times greater than for a job outside the industry.<\/p>\n Sulston raised a broader concern about whether the economic model underpinning the expansion was sustainable. \u201cWill we be left with VC-funded white elephant AI data centres, stuffed with expensive and rapidly depreciating Nvidia chips, that no one can afford to use?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to proceed with caution, taking care not to sacrifice our land, water, electricity and data to corporations that will either leave us in the lurch or bleed as much money out of us as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. 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The \u201cjobs boom\u201d argument is central to how the data centre industry has been securing planning approvals and political support.iStock<\/p>\n![\"Atlassian\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775625494_882_edd9f9c5e83877a03c628359d12180b746cd56fd.jpeg\")
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Data Centres Australia chief executive Belinda Dennett inside NextDC\u2019s West Footscray facility.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8d5a8d50d37915c0c1fef20c84be0e239cc7f27d.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765876452_771_b3a5e27b67bafef557dc9d266c430580bca7aae2.png\")
David Swan<\/a> is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 15, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-607279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}